The deal values Moonpig at £120m. Its shareholders will see their stakes rolled over to the new group holding. Equity will be raised from existing shareholders and private investment from Insight Ventures, Quilvest Ventures and Greenspring Associates.

PhotoBox dealt with 1 million individual prints a day in 2010. It sent out 100,000 canvas prints and 1 million photobooks. It turned over £72m.

Moonpig turned over £38m for the year ended April 2011. It sent out 38 million cards on behalf of almost three million punters. The company believes the UK card market is worth about £1bn, and only four per cent of this is currently fulfilled online.

Senior executives from both companies stay on board – Stan Laurent is group president and CEO, Iain Martin is Moonpig's MD and its founder Nick Jenkins will be special advisor to the group's board.

The company was founded in 2000 and the brand taken from Jenkins' nickname at school. ®